cook

plural cooks

1. cookingA person who prepares food.

   I'm a terrible cook, so I eat a lot of frozen dinners.

   Synonyms: cooker

2. cookingThe head cook of a manor house.
3. cookingThe degree or quality of cookedness of food.
4. artsThe member of a hot-rivetting team who heats the rivets in a brazier, see rivet.
5. slangOne who manufactures certain illegal drugs, especially meth.

   Police found two meth cooks working in the illicit lab.

   2 more examples

   By late October, the pressure on the Dark Arrows' ecstasy cook had eased. Other suppliers had moved in with product.

   2008, Mel Bradshaw, Victim Impact

   Owsley Stanley was a pioneer LSD cook, and the Purple Owsley pill from his now-defunct lab was Dad's prized possession, a rare, potent, druggie collector's item, the alleged inspiration for the Hendrix song “Purple Haze.”

   2011, Mackenzie Phillips, High on Arrival

6. slangA session of manufacturing certain illegal drugs, especially meth.

   Punko told Plante he wanted to use a full barrel for the next cook.

   2011, Neal Hall, Hell To Pay: Hells Angels vs. The Million-Dollar Rat, page 36

7. A fish, the European striped wrasse, Labrus mixtus.
8. board gamesAn unintended solution to a chess problem, considered to spoil the problem.

   The original endgame was one file to the right (Kf1, Kb5 etc.). But there is a cook after 1. c6 dxc6 2. d6 cxd6 3. h4 gxh3 e.p. 4. gxh3 Ka4! 5. h4 b5. My version eliminates the cook.

   2003 June, Pal Benko, “Endgame Lab”, in Chess Life, volume 58, number 6, New Windsor, N.Y.: United States Chess Federation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 49

present singular third person cooks · participle present cooking · past cooked · participle past cooked · nonstandard participle past rare cooken · first person past singular cooked · archaic present second person singular cookest · past second person singular cooked · archaic past second person singular cookedst · present singular third person cooks · archaic present singular third person cooketh · past singular third person cooked · past plural cooked · past subjunctive cooked · participle present cooking · participle past cooked

1. ambitransitivegenerallyTo prepare food for eating, typically by heating it, combining it with other ingredients, seasoning it, preparing it for serving, etc.

   I'm cooking bangers and mash.

   1 more example

   He's in the kitchen, cooking.

2. specificallytransitiveTo apply heat to food in the course of preparing it, particularly in a way that transforms it rather than simply making it warmer.

   1 more example

   You could just use ordinary shop-bought kecap manis to marinade the meat, but making your own is easy, has a far more elegant fragrance and is, above all, such a great brag! Flavouring kecap manis is an intensely personal thing, so try this version now and next time cook the sauce down with crushed, split lemongrass and a shredded lime leaf.

   2015 October 27, Matt Preston, The Simple Secrets to Cooking Everything Better, Plum, →ISBN, page 192

3. intransitiveTo undergo cooking.

   The dinner is cooking on the stove.

4. transitivevideo gamesTo smelt.

   Your suggestion makes sense. You cook iron with coal to get... iron. The coal is expended, where does it go? inside the iron to turn it into steel in real life. I approve

   2011 February 10, Oventoaster, “Iron items to Steel”, in Minecraft Forum

5. figurativelyintransitiveTo be uncomfortably hot.

   Look at that poor dog shut up in that car on a day like today - it must be cooking in there.

   Synonyms: bake, stew

6. slangtransitiveTo kill, destroy, or otherwise render useless or inoperative through exposure to excessive heat or radiation.

   You would die from what we might call "extremely acute radiation poisoning" – that is, you would be cooked.

   2014, Randall Munroe, “Periodic Wall of the Elements”, in What If?, New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, →ISBN, page 41

   1 more example

   "What's coming?" "Dunno yet. Cindy! Active scanning! Pulse hard, but don't cook any friendlies." "We have sensors that can cook people?" "Another reason why warship combat is not an indoor sport."

   2017 July 6, Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary, archived from the original on 20 Jan 2024

7. slangtransitiveTo execute by electric chair.

   Synonyms: fry

8. slangtransitivegovernmentTo hold on to a grenade briefly after igniting the fuse, so that it explodes almost immediately after being thrown.

   I always cook my frags, in case they try to grab one and throw it back.

   Synonyms: cook off

9. To concoct or prepare.

   Jesse, we need to cook.

   2 more examples

   My brother was locked up for cooking meth in his basement.

   The process of cooking meth can leave residue on surfaces all over the home, exposing all of its occupants to the drug.

   2006, Frank Spalding, Methamphetamine: The Dangers of Crystal Meth, page 47

10. slangtransitiveTo tamper with or alter; to cook up.

    So far as Pridger was concerned the game was up. He had cooked the buying, he had cooked the selling, he had systematically pillaged the stock.

    1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

    1 more example

    They all of them receive the same advices from abroad, and very often in the same words; but their way of cooking it is so different, that there is no citizen, who has an eye to the public good, who can leave the coffee-house with peace of mind...

    1880, Joseph Addison with Richard John Green, “The newspaper”, in Essays of Joseph Addison, London: Roger de Coverly Club, page 154

11. intransitiveslangjazzTo play or improvise in an inspired and rhythmically exciting way. (From 1930s jive talk.)

    Watch this band: they cook!

    2 more examples

    Crank up the Coltrane and start cooking!

    This album is called Cookin’ at Miles’ request. He said, “After all, that’s what we did – came in and cooked.”

    1957, Miles Davis quoted by Ira Gitler, liner notes to Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Prestige LP 7094

12. intransitiveslangentertainmentTo play music vigorously.

    On the Wagner piece, the orchestra was cooking!

    1 more example

    The tempos were swift. The orchestra cooked, reading [conductor] Kahane's mind and swinging with him as one.

    2012, “Review: Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra won't stand still”, in Los Angeles Times

13. humorousintransitiveslangTo proceed with some plan or course of action, or develop some train of thought towards its conclusion (whether this is advantageous, or comical, or digging into a hole).

    OK, who let him cook?

    1 more example

    Hol' up, let that boy cook!

    1. humorousintransitiveslangTo proceed with some advantageous course of action; (more generally) to be successful.

       We had to deal with some problems at first, but now we're cooking.

       5 more examples

       My bar was built by Frazier, Gary Manson, Robert Feck, Jeff Picoli — that's who built my bar. When I hired those people, that's when my bar started cookin'. 'Cause Frazier gets along with anybody — he has a magnetic personality, and he can make the worst piece of shit feel like king for a day.

       1977 August 27, Steve Savage, Susan "Suki" Eagan, “Everything You Wanted to Know About Suki, But Were Too Distracted In Chaps to Ask Her”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 8, page 9

       Asensio as AMF might just be the truth man. Bro is cooking and now he has added a goal to top it all off.

       2023 April 2, @WolfRMFC, Twitter, archived from the original on 05 Oct 2023

       WAIT YOU'RE ACTUALLY COOKING RN. Emberwake ring. Quick math says that's about 21% more damage than just using tawhoa. Ring also gives fire damage and ignite chance, which is great.

       2023 July 30, u/tokyo__driftwood, “How are we feeling about Earthquake ignite chieftain post-patch?”, in Reddit, r/PathOfExileBuilds, archived from the original on 05 Oct 2023

       With the shot clock winding down, LA's superstars got accustomed to deferring to [Austin] Reaves and letting him cook for either open jumpers or moves that ultimately led to and-one's and free-throw attempts.

       2023 August 6, Noel Sanchez, “Lakers News: Re-Signed LA Starter Reveals He Was Prioritizing A Free Agency Return”, in Sports Illustrated, New York, N.Y.: Arena Group Holdings, Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Oct 2023

       So Llama 4 immediately zooming up to number 2 on LM Arena would seem to indicate that Meta has really cooked here. They have built this incredible model.

       2025 April 11, Kevin Roose, Casey Newton, “Big Tech’s Tariff Chaos + A.I. 2027 + Llama Drama”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

    2. AustraliaderogatoryhumorousintransitiveslangTo develop insane or fringe ideas.

       The furlough of workers during The Lockdowns left many with a conspiracy bent ample time to cook.

14. slangtransitiveTo defeat or humiliate.

    You didn't have to cook him like that!

    1 more example

    He didn't prepare for the debate at all, so his opponent cooked him hard.

15. slangtransitiveTo cause to be cooked, i.e. to put in a hopeless situation.

    This assignment is cooking me big time.

    1 more example

    This new labor law is really cooking working-class people.

present singular third person cooks · participle present cooking · participle past cooked · past cooked

1. intransitiveobsoleterareTo make the noise of the cuckoo.

   Constant cuckoos cook on every side.

   1599, Thomas Moffet, The Silkwormes, and their Flies, London: V.S. for Nicholas Ling, →OCLC

present singular third person cooks · participle present cooking · participle past cooked · past cooked

1. UKdialectalobsoleteTo throw.

   Cook. To throw. Cook me that ball, throw me that ball. Glou.

   1787, Francis Grose, A Provincial Glossary: With a Collection of Local Proverbs, and Popular Superstitions, London: Printed for S. Hooper, →OCLC, page 37

   Synonyms: fling, hurl, bung, cast, chuck, chunk, dash, dump

plural Cooks · alternative Cooke · alternative Coke

1. countableAn English surname originating as an occupation for a cook or seller of cooked food. Famously held by James Cook, English captain and explorer of the Pacific Ocean, and for whom the Cook Islands, Cook Strait and Mount Cook were named.
2. A placename:
   1. countableuncountableA township in Sac County, Iowa.
   2. countableuncountableA township in Decatur County, Kansas.
   3. countableuncountableA minor city in Saint Louis County, Minnesota; named for railroad official Wirth Cook.
   4. countableuncountableA village in Johnson County, Nebraska; named for landowner Andrew Cook.
   5. countableuncountableAn unincorporated community in Madison Township, Fayette County, Ohio; named for landowner Matthew S. Cook.
   6. countableuncountableA township in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
   7. countableuncountableA suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia; named for James Cook.
   8. countableuncountableA local government area in Far North Queensland, Australia; in full, the Shire of Cook.
   9. countableuncountableA ghost town in South Australia, Australia; named for Joseph Cook, 6th Prime Minister of Australia.
   10. countableuncountableA river in Westland district, West Coast, New Zealand.

       Synonyms: Weheka

3. countableuncountableAn electoral division in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.